Coming Home
by Rainbows n' Pixie Dust
Summary: COMPLETE - Sequel to Running Away - Draco and Hermione Malfoy have lived happily in Guiliano, Italy, for seven years. Hermione finally decides it is time to return to her home and face the ghosts of her past. Draco supports her all he can, but their sudden reappearance starts more events than what they could've ever thought.
1. Letters to and fro

_7.7, 1999 _

_Guiliano's little church was filled with different flowers, and everywhere you could see a floating scented candle. All the guests had taken their seats; Rosa, Paolo, Guiseppe and the rest of our friends. Practically the whole town was there. Father Jacob was already at the altar, as well as I. I was a nervous wreck. My dress robes were white, and I was rearranging the flower in my pocket. "It's fine. You look great." My bestman, Aleksander, whispered. I sighed. "This is nerve-racking." I whispered back. Aleks just chuckled quietly. The music began playing, and I saw little Marianne hop down the aisle, throwing flower petals here and there. I smiled. She had been so exited when we had asked her to be our flower girl. And then Hermione came in, and my breath was taken away. She was gorgeous. Her dress was white(of course), and the hem of it was filled with flowers made of fabric, some of which were attached to her hair as well. She was wearing the necklace I had given her; it glittered in the candlelight, and gave her a magical edge. I looked her in the eyes. All we had gone through, and now we were here. In the church. Our wedding day. Her bridesmaid, Mirjam, was walking behind her. _

_She stopped in front of me, and I saw she was blushing a bit. Good, I wasn't the only one who was nervous. I noticed her dress showed just a bit of her scars; I knew that unless you knew they were there you couldn't notice them. I smiled at the memory of our first kiss. _

"_Signor Malfoy, Signora Granger." Father Jacob said. After Voldemort had fallen, I had gone back for a quick trip to explain to my mother that I was going to marry a muggle born and that I would live in Italy. Father had been taken to Azkaban, and he would be there for one more year. We had then explained our fake names by saying that we had been chased by death eaters. The town had taken it well, all though sometimes people called me signor Brenton as a joke. We still remained unknown to our old friends; the only person in England who had a clue where Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger were was my mother._

"_We are here to celebrate the marriage of signor Draco Malfoy and signora Hermione Granger. Now, if you, signora, would repeat after me.." Jacob said. Hermione nodded. "I, Hermione..." Hermione looked at me. "I, Hermione," "...will take you, Draco," "will take you, Draco," "...as my lawfully wed husband, in life's ups and downs." I smiled at her as she put the ring on my finger._

"_Now, signor. I, Draco..."_

"_I, Draco,"_

"_will take you, Hermione,"_

"_will take you, Hermione," I smiled at her._

"_as my lawfully wed wife, in life's ups and downs."_

"_as my lawfully wed wife, in life's ups and downs." I finished and put the ring onto her finger, my smile as wide as my face._

"_You may kiss the bride." _

_And boy did we kiss. I could hear the crowd sigh and the photographer take our picture, but all I saw was her. My own little know-it-all. Her eyes were open, gazing straight into mine. I heard little Marianne giggle of joy, and couldn't help but smile. I took her hand, and together we walked out of the church, wife and husband. "This is the happiest day of my life." I whispered in her ear right before the photographer took our picture again. I saw her smile widen when she heard that._

_We all walked to our house for the wedding reception, a long parade of happy wizards and witches wearing light colors. I bet if anyone would've seen that, they would've been weirded out for the rest of their life. And at our house we went to the back terrace, where we danced the first dance. Soon little Marianne dragged her friend to the dance floor, and after that everyone else came streaming. We went over to the beach, our owl, named Treijan after Treom's dead son, and sent the letter to the centaurs. _

_**Dear Treom and everyone else,**_

_**We are living fine, and are forever grateful for your hostility and kindness while we were there. We have something special to tell you. We got married, Hermione and Draco. We'll come visit soon, promise.**_

_**Best regards, **_

_**Hermione and Draco Malfoy**_

Present day - Hermione's POV

I straightened Angelica's clothes again. I was nervous. I hadn't been back to Britain for seven years, and soon I was to floo to Ginny's house.

_**Three years earlier**_

_**Dear Hermione,**_

_**I hope this letter reaches you. I have no idea where you are right now. Or even if you are alive. **_

_**It's been almost four years since you left. Harry and I finally got married last month, and I am happier than ever. Is everything all right with you? Ron's gotten worse; he broke up with Lavender three months ago and is now ranting about how he let you go and how he wishes you were still here. I'm sorry, but it sort of slipped and now everyone knows you're still alive. But they're not mad. I said that you were fleeing death eaters and you had to leave. I hope you're happy, wherever you are. And please, reply. **_

_**Missing you,**_

_**Ginny Potter**_

_I set the letter on the table, among all the other ones. Ginny had sent me at least fifteen letters, and I hadn't replied to any of them. Now I was going to. Angelica was playing on the floor near me; I heard her giggles and smiled as I took the quill and dipped it into ink._

_**Dear Ginny,**_

_**I am so happy for you and Harry! Send him my best regards. I can assure you that I am alive, though I am not planning to come back quite yet. I still have some things to sort out with my life. I have walked down the aisle two years ago now, and my little one-year-old daughter, Angelica, looks just like her father. I won't tell you yet who it is. You'll see when I come back.**_

_**It's fine, I knew it was a hard secret to keep. And I think it'll be easier to come when everyone don't think I'm dead.**_

_**And I am happy. Happier than ever. **_

_**Arrivederci,**_

_**Hermione M.**_

_I sighed and left the letter to dry. I hadn't signed with my last name, she would've guessed instantly. Suddenly I felt two hands on my shoulders._

"_Buona sera." I said as I smelled Draco's musky smell._

"_Buona sera. Sorry I came so late. How was your day?" Draco asked. I smiled, bent my head backwards and kissed him gently._

"_Angelica threw up on my shirt, I made salad for lunch, I continued on working with Pedoera's living rooms' furnishing, and..." I paused. "I decided to reply to Ginny._

"_Really? Are you sure you can?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Then I support you. It's just good that you reply to her. Otherwise we'll have our house filled with your unsent letters to her." He joked and picked up Angelica, who cooed and tapped his nose. He laughed and threw her in the air. I smiled. There was one more thing I wanted to tell him, but that could wait._

"_Let's put you to sleep, shall we?" Draco asked Angelica. She just giggled, and so Draco walked out of the living room, where my desk was, and upstairs to Angelica's room. I sighed and rolled up the letter, then attached it to Treijan's leg. "Take it to Ginny Potter." I said. The brown owl stared at me for a while before flying out of the open window. _

_I walked into Angelica's room to find Draco standing there, watching her sleep. We had built a wall to divide the old large room into two smaller rooms. Angelica's room was the one closest to ours, and the other one was unused. For now._

"_You know, the next room should be painted soon. Maybe blue..." I said._

"_Why?" Draco asked. _

"_We also need to buy a new crib..." I continued on hinting._

_Then realization spread across his face. "Are you-" He asked, excitement oozing from his voice._

"_Yes, I am pregnant. Maybe this time you can have your son." I smiled. He cried of joy and hugged me tight. "This is amazing!" he said. I laughed. His face was like a little boys', exited and happy. I yawned widely. "I'm going to go and sleep now. It's been a long day." I said sleepily. Draco smiled and followed me to our bedroom._


	2. The first step

- Present day -

I read over Ginny's letter for the umpteenth time, my brain still not believing I was actually going back.

_Dear Hermione, _

_I am dying to see who the lucky guy is. And your children too! Angelica and Eduardo, right? James is one now; he is a little cutie, just like his father. Harry just got promoted; he is the head of the Auror Department now. You can come at 12 on this Saturday for tea, if you like, or later. Anytime is fine. I just want to see you. _

_G.P_

We had sent letters back and forth, a few times each year, telling each other how it was going. And now I was going back, like I had promised.

"Mama, where are we going again?" Angel asked in italian. I smiled at her. She was so much like her father. Excluding the deep turquoise eyes, she was exactly like Draco. Except 100% more cuter. Which of course was a lot.

"We are going to my friends house. I haven't seen my friends for seven years." I replied. "And you, young lady, speak english. My friends don't speak italian." She was four, but already spoke quite fine, both italian and english. Guess it was because we wouldn't treat her as a baby, but talk to her as we would talk to anyone else. Draco of course said it was because her mother was the brightest witch of her age, but I doubt it was all my cause. He wasn't a dummie himself either.

"Is Eddie coming?" She asked. "And Papa?"

"Yes, they are coming a bit later."

She was quiet for a while. "What's their name?"

"The woman is Ginny , and the man is Harry." I replied. The clock on our wall struck 1 pm. It would be twelve in England. Sighing, I took a handful of floo powder, took Angel's hand and stepped into the fireplace. I threw the powder down and yelled "House of Ginny Potter!"

As I stepped out of the fireplace, I heard Ginny rush over and suddenly I was engulfed in a hug, her coppery hair tickling at my face.

"Hermione! Oh, I can't believe it's you!"

"Hey Gin." I said. She pulled away and smiled at me. "You haven't changed much at all!" She exclaimed. Then she noticed Angelica, who was still holding my hand. She wasn't really the shy kind. "Buongiorno Ginny!" she smiled. "Well, good morning to you too. Angelica, am I correct?" she cooed at Angelica. I laughed at Angelica's behavior. Of course she had to speak Italian a bit.

"I take it you've been in Italy?" She asked knowingly.

"Si." I smiled. "Go on Angelica, go and see where Harry is." Ginny said to Angelica, who giggled and rushed out of the room. "I'm sorry I didn't come earlier. I just...had a lot things to sort out." I mumbled. "Hey, honey. It's all right. I understand." Ginny said. I smiled. She had always been so easy to talk to.

"So, Harry killed Voldemort then?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was quite scary, actually. He almost died from a killing curse another death eater fired. But I, I fired a good bat-bogey hex, so he missed." She said proudly. I laughed.

"It's your signature spell, that one."

We were quiet for a while. I looked around in the living room. It was cosy, and somehow it reminded me of the Burrow. It was just...a bit neater and spacier.

"Where is this famous husband of yours?" Ginny spoke up.

"He should be coming any minute now."

"Who is it?"

I sighed. I should tell her now so it wouldn't be much of a shock. Just then, Angelica came into the room, dragging along a confused Harry who was carrying a one-year-old boy, with identical black hair but blue eyes, like Ginny's. He looked at me for a while, then set the boy down and walked over, engulfing me into a hug.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you." He whispered. I patted his back awkwardly.

" It's all right." I said. "I'm not mad at any of you except for Ron. And maybe Umbridge. She was horrid." I said to break the tension. Harry laughed and looked around the room. "Where's your husband?"

"I should probably tell you first who it is. It might be a shock." I said quietly.

"So, who is it?" Ginny asked, exited.

"Draco Malfoy." I whispered.

Both Ginny and Harry looked stunned. I stood there, looking around, for about a minute until Ginny walked up to me and touched my arm gently, like a feather. "Do you love him?"

"More than anyone else." I replied honestly.

"Then it's all right. Maybe awkward at first, but if he is good to you, then I can try to be good to him." Harry said. I sighed in relief. I had expected him to get outraged, but he had grown up. Good.

"Yeah, I have already told him not to act like a prick. Though he hasn't acted like one for seven years."

"How did you guys even end up like that?"

"I'll explain later, all right?" I asked. Just then I heard a whoosh and some cursing from the fireplace. "Draco, no cursing around Ed!" I snapped. He came out, a huge black mark on his forehead. "But I hit my head..." He whined, handing Ed to me. I watched in amusement while he rubbed off the ash and then turned around to smile at Harry and Ginny.

"Good morning Mister and Miss Potter." He said politely, shaking both of their hands. "Good morning." Ginny said happily. "Can I call you by your first names or...?" Draco asked. I was surprised by his politeness, as always.

"Yeah, I guess that you are the husband of my best friend that it asks for first name terms." Harry said. I had busied myself with Ed's hair, which was half black with ash. I struggled to get out my wand, and then muttered "tergeo", and his blonde curls were like newly washed. I handed him back to Draco as Angelica wanted to hold my hand.

Both our children were blonde haired, but to my surprise, Ed's hair was curly and a bit darker than Angelica's. All the old ladies at Guiliano called him the "angel child", for his blonde curls, angelic face and chocolate brown eyes. Angelica on the other hand had wavy, platinum blonde hair, and deep turquoise eyes. Her eyes reminded me of my grandmother's eyes; they had been a bit paler. Draco said that one of his ancestors had had the same colored Angelica was outgoing and vivid, Ed was quiet and not as outgoing.

"I take it this is Eduardo?" Harry asked Draco. I was surprised how well they seemed to get along. "Yeah, but everyone calls him Ed or Eddie." Draco said, handing Ed his teddy from his pocket. "And who is this young man?"

"James." Harry said proudly. Draco nodded. "Looks a lot like you, Harry." He said. Draco saying Harry sounded odd.

Harry laughed. "Your children are just like you, Draco. Well, Ed's eyes are exactly like yours, Hermione." Harry pointed out.

"Angelica is more like Draco. She's even picked up the Malfoy smirk." I replied.

"Let's all go and eat, shall we? I've prepared lunch for us." Ginny said. "We have a lot to talk about." She added. And so we all walked into the dining room, where we all got full plates of spaghetti and meatball sauce. "It's James's favorite. I reckon most kids like it, so that's why I chose it. God some kids can be picky, you know." Ginny said as she gave James a fork and let him eat. We did just like she did. I noticed Angelica was watching Ginny intently.

"Your hair looks like it's on fire." She pointed out matter-of-factly. "Pretty." She added, then turned her attention back to her food. We all laughed, and Angel just looked at us like we were maniacs.

"It isn't a matter of laughing. I was just stating a fact." She scolded. Draco took her little hand and shook it gently. "You were stating a fact. But sometimes when someone says something odd, it is quite funny." He said. Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"She speaks like she'd be ten or something." She stated. "Your work I guess, Hermione. "

Harry laughed. "I bet. But weren't you quite successful in school as well?" He asked Draco.

"One could say that, yes."

"So, Hermione, tell us your story." Ginny told me while we were eating dessert, a lemon-merengue pie and coffee or tea. Ed, Angelica and James were happily playing in the corner, where there was a large box of toys.

"Um, where should I start..." I began. "Well, you know about the part what Ron did. And I...well I was quite suicidal at that time. And...I went to the Forest, and found a small pond. I...I tried to kill myself. I was already in the pond, cuts on both my wrists, when Draco came along. He-" I paused. "How about you tell us why you were in the Forest?"

He took a deep breath. "Well, I was running away, because I couldn't stand all the pressure that was put on me. My father forcing me to act like a self-centered prick and being overly controlling of my life, and Voldemort telling me to kill Dumbledore was just too much. I came across her, and I felt it was against my pride to leave her alone to die. We agreed that she'd leave at the first village we came across, as my plan was to hide out in the Forest for a few weeks so the commotion would settle down. But then we got attacked by this beast, and she got poisoned. And she would've died if it wasn't for the centaur clan we came across. They were grateful for us for killing the beast, and treated us as friends. They even took us into their clan. Anyhow, she was asleep for almost two weeks, and when she woke up, we continued on traveling. We got to the mountain range, and unlike what we had agreed, she came along with me to Italy. We had warmed up to each other during that month, and well-"

"I confessed I liked him and he said he liked me too. So we went to Guiliano, a wizard town in Italy, and bought a house. He proposed to me on Christmas Day that year. We got married on July 7th later that year, and Angelica was born three years later. I started a interior furnishing company with a few of my friends, just a small one, and now it has began to be quite successful. Draco went to work as an outdoor furnisher, something he'd always wanted to do. And then, two years ago, Eduardo was born. So..." I looked at Draco.

"Yeah. That's our story." he finished, looking me in the eye.

"That..." Ginny began, but found that she was unable to continue.

"Is incredible. I would've never thought that our Hermione would fall in love with that prick you were back at Hogwarts. But you've changed." Harry finished for Ginny, pointing his words to Draco.

I sighed. "It's been quite hard, to be honest with you.

"Hermione, do you mind? I have something I want to tell you." Ginny said. Her expression already told me that something big was up. I nodded and followed her to their bedroom.

"Guess." She said. I thought for a moment.

"I don't know." I said.

"I might gain weight during these six months." She said.

I gaped at her. "You're pregnant?"

"You've always been the smart one." She laughed.

"Harry doesn't know yet, does he?" I continued on asking.

She nodded. "I wanted you to know first."

"He'll be overjoyed!" I said. This was amazing.

"I know. I thought I'd tell him quite soon, maybe during our anniversary." She thought aloud.

We returned to the living room where Harry and Draco were discussing Quidditch. James, Ed and Ang were playing in the corner.

"I want you guys to come over to our place. Any time, any day." I said.

"Where do you live?"

"Villa Lucia, right outside Guiliano. Just ask anyone for directions. It's quite easy, actually." Draco said.

"Mama, look! I can fly!" Angel cried then. She was floating twenty centimeters from the ceiling. I groaned and walked over, taking her by the hand. "Honey, no flying inside, you know that. Or did you forget how you dropped the chandelier?" I said to her. She pouted, but soon she was back on firm ground.

"How about we come over now? It's weekend, and it's not too late." Ginny suggested. I looked at Draco. "I guess it's be okay...We don't have anyone coming over, do we?"

"I don't think so. Rosa might stop by, but then again - she does that all the time." Draco said. And so it was decided. I was a bit nervous, it was the first time I actually had any of my friends in my house. Friends from Hogwarts, that is.

Ginny quickly ran upstairs and got James a jacket. Draco had already left with Ed and Angelica; I was to floo with Ginny, to make sure she got to the right place. I walked into the living room to find Harry flooing right, and soon Ginny came and we were off.

"Hermione! Your house is gorgeous!" Ginny gasped the second she stepped out of our fireplace. I smirked. "It better be, I work at a interior designing company. It would be a shame if I couldn't even furnish my own home." Ginny giggled and put James to the ground, from where he ran straight outside. I glanced through the doors; Draco was on the beach it Angelica and Ed. He'd manage one more kid. I took Ginny around the house, and in the downstairs hallway she stopped me. We had gathered pictures throughout the years, of us, the kids, the house and such. There were already many pictures, the largest one being the photo of me and Draco on our wedding day, on the church's stairs. Beside it were portraits of the kids as babies, and then all over were different pictures; Angelica walking with Draco's help, me sitting with both kids on the beach, squinting at the camera. Ed the first time he ate spaghetti and tomato sauce on his own, his face covered with tomato all the way up to his nose. I giggled at the sight of the picture, and when Ginny came over to see what I was laughing at, she laughed too. "I really do believe you are happy." She said to me. I hugged her. "But I won't hide out anymore." I said jokingly. "You better not, or I'll hunt you down." Ginny replied, shaking a finger at me. When we went to our bedroom, Ginny sighed and sat down on the bed. I saw her take our wedding photo from the bedside table. I watched her watch as I kissed Draco. She then put the photo on the bed and hugged me. "I'm so happy for you." She whispered. I patted her back. "I needed a near-death experience, a two weeks of sleep, hypothermia and walking a hundred miles to get the guy of my dreams. But it was worth it." I said. Ginny laughed. "Let's go outside." I suggested.

Harry and Draco were on the sand dune, watching the kids play in the sand. We walked over and sat down with them.

"What do you think of the house?" Draco asked Ginny.

"It's gorgeous."

"Hm..Hermione furnished it all herself." He said.

"Shut up, signor Brenton." I laughed.

"Signor Brenton?" Harry asked.

"We took fake names for the first few months, then Voldemort fell and we used that to take back our old names." I replied. He nodded as he understood.

"Our lives are quite messed up, don't you think?" He said. We all agreed with him and laughed.

About five hours or so later Harry and Ginny were back in our living room, ready to leave. James was being carried by Harry, as he had fallen asleep during our dinner.

"Hermione, you must come to our Sunday lunch! At the Burrow, mom will be thrilled! And Draco can come too. I'll speak to her right when I get home. What do you think?" Ginny suggested when Harry flooed.

"Of course, just..."

"What?"

"If Ron comes. Will he be all right?"

"I think so. And if he does act badly, we'll kick him out. He hasn't really been at his best behavior anyways; just a while ago his wife, Jaqueline, found him in bed with another girl. It seems he has had several affairs during his marriage. Naturally, we're all outraged at him, since Jaqueline was Fleur's cousin and a very good friend of hers. Well, their marriage ended there. He's been quite bitter lately about his relationships."

"In that case, I think we will come. And send Molly my best regards." I told her as she stepped into the fireplace. And then she was gone.

I sighed and leaned against the fireplace. It had been wonderful, the way they had taken it. I hoped everyone else would be like that too. I felt Draco's arms snake around my waist and pull me to him. His hot breath tickled on my neck as he whispered: "The kids are already in bed and fast asleep. What do you say?" He said, nibbling at my ear.

"You sneaky Slytherin." I mused, but kissed him nevertheless. Chuckling, he picked me up and carried me upstairs, still with our lips locked. He laid me onto the bed gently and climbed on top of me. I smiled warmly as he cupped my face and kissed my forehead.

"I love you." I murmured.

"And I love you." He replied.


	3. A lovely Sunday lunch

**Hello my lovely readers**

**I hope you like what I'm writing :P**

* * *

**Draco's POV**

I woke up first in the morning. Carefully, making sure not to wake Mione, I got up, gathered my clothes and hurried into the shower. I had to be ready and fresh when the kids woke up, or they'd wake Hermione. Today was Sunday; it was today when I usually let Hermione sleep late. It was already 7:30; they kids usually woke around 8 o'clock.

After quickly washing myself, I pulled on my sweater and my khaki shorts before walking into Angelica's bedroom. She was still sound asleep, but I heard some movement from Ed's room. So I walked into the bedroom, which had been painted blue long before we knew it was a boy. Sure enough, Eddie was up, standing up and leaning against the crib's side. He was staring at me with his brown eyes. I chuckled and picked him up.

"Buongiorno Eddie!" I said to him. "Buogiono!" He screamed, clapping his hands together. I walked over to the bathroom and helped him at the potty before giving him a quick wash and changing him into white jeans and a dark blue wool sweater with red stripes and a white anchor at the front. Rosa had knitted it for him. It had turned out that Rosa was the "mama" of the town; everyone knew her, and she cared for everyone. All the kids in town called her "mama Rosa".

I had to chase Ed for a while before he let me put socks on him, then I picked him up and walked downstairs.

"The girls are still asleep. So how about we make a man's breakfast?" I asked him as I put him into a high chair. He just giggled and began toying with the plastic shapes on the chair. I smiled and turned to the fridge. I took out some eggs, bacon, tomatoes, milk and and cheese. I took the scissors and quickly stopped by in our garden to get some fresh rosmarine for the omelette I was going to make.

About twenty minutes later I was sitting, feeding Eddie some omelette and little sausages, when Angelica came in, still in her nightgown.

"Buongiorno belle angela." I said to her. She rubbed at her eyes, yawned and climbed onto the barstool. I piled some sausage-tomato omelette and bacon onto her plate and gave it to her as well as a fork and a knife. Hermione had spent a good week teaching Angelica how to use a fork, a spoon and a knife, and she now used them quite well. What a few times the spoon flipped and there was soup on the wall. After passing her a glass of milk, I went back to feeding Eddie.

"Good morning." I glanced at the door to find a very sleepy Hermione there, wearing sweatpants and a tank top. I blew a kiss at her. "Good morning gorgeous." I said. "There's omelette and bacon on the stove. Help yourself." I said as Eddie hit the spoon, and the omelette was suddenly all over my brow.

"And this is stylish?" I asked him. He just giggled, and as he had finished his plate, I picked him up and went to the table to sit with my girls.

"Is it some custom that all girls are sleepy this morning?" I asked.

Hermione yawned widely. "Bad dreams." She stated. My grin vanished.

"How bad?"

"Not that bad." She said. Enough to keep me from getting a good nights' sleep." She added then, and yawned again.

"So, we're going to the Weasley's for lunch, right?" I asked to change the topic.

"Yeah, Ginny called me and said that we need to be at her place at one. So we've got time." Hermione said.

"All right. I'll be at the beach, bring Ang and yourself there when you've finished breakfast." I said, bowing to her and taking Ed by the hand and leading him outside. I picked him onto my shoulders and ran down the sand dune. Eddie laughed loudly, and nothing in the world was a better sound than that. I left him there, in the sand, while I ran back to the house and got the little football and then ran back to find him, one of his fingers aflame with a blue flame. I panicked for a second; then the fire went out and I saw he hadn't gotten burned. I laughed and kicked the ball to him, and he picked it up and threw it back. We kept up that game, until Hermione came with Angelica, carrying her painting supplies. She was actually quite good; she had painted our house and the sea several times. She had even made a portrait of Angel as a baby, with me holding her while she was asleep.

Ang came running down the dune, doing a few cartwheels on the way, and then joined our little game while Hermione set up her easel and began painting. After a while, Angelica got tired of the game and began practicing handstands, cartwheels, turnovers and such. We took her over to the town's gym twice a week for kiddie gymnastics; she took it very seriously, and was actually quite good. We were thinking of taking Eddie there too someday, to see if he enjoyed it. I sat down with Eddie and watched her.

Suddenly I saw one of her hands slip and fall into a hole, and she went crashing towards the ground. Before she did though, I saw her being lifted into the air and then put into a standing position. I glanced back at Hermione; her wand was out, and she was smiling a victorious smile. "Hey, honey. Could you take Ang and Ed and go sit over there? I'll put you guys into my painting." She said. I nodded, and picked Angel by her hands and we went in the middle of the beach and sat down. We watched the sea and drew into the sand until Hermione walked over and told us she was done.

"I wanna see!" Ang cried and ran over to the easel. I stood up, picked Ed up and slipped my hand into Hermione's while we walked after Angel. The painting was amazing. The water was turquoise blue, like Angel's eyes, and she had painted us well. My hair looked very realistic; Angel's hair was flying in the wind and Ed's little sailor cap was just the right color. She had worked on this very painting for at least two or three weeks. I kissed her cheek gently. "You are amazing. You know that, right?" I asked her. She looked me in the eye. "Considering that you tell me that every day, yes I know." She laughed. I glanced at my clock.

"It's already one. We should get ready." I told her. She nodded and called for Angel to come back. She was at the shore, walking in the water. When she heard us, she walked out of the water and took her shoes, then burst out into a full sprint. I put Eddie down to the ground, and when Ang passed me, I began running. Halfway to the house I caught her and picked her up, still running. "And the papa monster wins again!" I yelled. Angel was laughing hard, and when I put her to the ground, she kissed me on the cheek, then ran upstairs to her room. Hermione walked past me and gave Eddie to me. "You are an amazing papa monster." She said, put the easel and painting supplies down and kissed me gently, then hurried upstairs after Angel.

About half an hour later we were all standing in the living room, and Hermione was just checking on Angel's and Eddie's clothes. I had given Eddie his favorite cap; it was velvet and matched his sweater, and his dirty blonde curls framed it, making him look adorable. I had to change his jeans, as they had gotten dirty at the beach; the new ones were khaki, and his brand new, white sneakers were spotless - for now. Hermione had dressed Angel into a light blue wool sweater with white stripes, white jeans and beige sneakers, her hair combed silky. Hermione herself was wearing the outfit I had bought for her seven years ago; skinny jeans, that still fit her, and the blue tank top, beige cardigan and sandals. The flowers looked as good as new. She had treasured them, saying that they were the first gift I had given to her and that they were special. She still fit the clothes; she had worked hard at the gym to rid of the pregnancy kilos she had gained after bearing two children.

"You look amazing." I said. "Who does, papa?" Ang asked with a smirk. Typical Malfoy behavior.

"Both of my amazing girls." I said to her, taking her hand. I heard Hermione sigh and straighten her hair. Then she stepped into the fireplace and flooed. I followed her a moment later.

"Hello, hello." James greeted us from the sofa when I stepped out of the fireplace.

"Hello!" Ginny greeted Hermione with a hug. Eddie was holding Hermione's hand and hiding behind her. "Hermione! It is so great to see you!" A woman, who must've been Mrs. Weasley, greeted, hugging Hermione tight. "So great to see all of you." Hermione said. She must've read my mind, as she took as step back and slipped her hand into mine.

"Gin, I hope you told them already. Otherwise they'll kill him." She said to Ginny.

"Don't worry, we don't bite!" One of the twins said. "I'm George, by the way. And this is Fred." He pointed to his brother. "And who is this gorgeous little girl?" The other twin, Fred, asked. "My name is Angelica." Angel said, smiling widely. She shook the twins' hands and then hurried along to James. "Hello, my name is Bill." "An90d I am Fleur. We've met before, I believe." "Arthur. Pleased to meet you." I shook at least five people's hands, and as I looked around, I saw Ang already talking happily with a girl who looked like a miniature Fleur, only with copper hair. I heard them speaking a mix of italian, french and english, and smirked. Typical Ang. I watched as Mrs. Weasley, Molly, cooed at Eddie, who actually gave her a smile and said his name. "I am Eddie!" He giggled. Hermione looked at me and smiled. I would bear through meeting a billion Weasley's if I saw her smile.

"All right, everyone outside. And would you please take a plate outside while you're at it?" Molly said. This family was so much different from mine. It was so...cosy. So homey. So chaotic in a comforting way.

I followed Hermione sheepishly, and took a plate someone offered me and carried it outside, where a large table was set. I put the plate, which contained fried chicken, onto the table and went over to take my seat beside Hermione. Before I could though, the twins took be to the side to talk with me.

"Do you love our Hermione?"

"Yes." I said defiantly.

"Good. But if you hurt her..." They said jokingly.

"Nah. If I ever hurt her, I would kill myself." I said seriously. They gaped at me for a while, then nodded.

"All right then. You seem like a good chap." The other said.

"You can be our friend if you like. Don't be scared, we don't bite."

"Not unless we eat the "wolf pastilles" we wont." The other one said, and soon they were laughing hard. I didn't quite understand, but smiled and walked away.

"They didn't offer you candy, did they?" Hermione asked as I sat down.

"No. Why?"

"They like to test their products on unknowing victims."

"Oh." I watched as the twins walked to the table and took their seats next to their wives, Angelina Johnson(well, she was a Weasley now) and a woman named Jenny. I also noticed a sad-looking woman sitting beside Fleur, with the same blonde hair as her. I reckon that was Jaqueline.

"So, Draco, I take it you work as a gardener?" A man, Percy, asked as we ate. Hermione was deep in conversation with Ginny and Molly, and Ang was at the end of the table, eating with Bill's and Fleur's daughter Desiree, and a young boy who I didn't quite recognize. I nodded.

"You could say that. The official title is outdoor decor designer, as I design the layout of gardens and choose the plants, statues and such. We get a few orders each month." I replied.

"Fascinating. Do you do it magically or...?" Percy said.

"Depends. Planting flowers is better to do on your own, as the plants grow better that way. And we do use magical plants occasionally, especially the guarding rose is a big hit. But sometimes we use magic to move the heavy statues or to make the bushes more lively and that." I said. "What department do you work at? I heard you worked at the Ministry..."

"I work at the international department. Right now I am working together with Italian wizards about the Quidditch World Cup Final, which will be organized in...I forgot the name...Gui- something."

"Guiliano?" I suggested.

"Yes, that's the one. How did you know?"

"We live there."

"Really? How fortunate. Can you tell me, how many muggles approximately come across the town per year?"

"Maybe one or two. The town is five hours from Rome, and far away from the main highways and towns. The nearest muggle town is about an hours' drive away." I replied.

"One...or...two..." Percy muttered while he wrote it down. He took a bite of his chicken and continued. "You see, it has been hard to contact anyone in the town. It is most fortunate that I met you." He praised. He seemed very enthusiastic about his job. "Is there a camping area or something where we could have approximately ten thousand wizards and witches?"

"Not really, but the beaches are quite large in areas. People can camp there." I said.

We ate lunch happily, talking about many things. I don't know how, but the Weasleys just managed to make me feel like home. Something I never really had before Hermione. I hoisted Eddie in my lap and gave him some chicken to chew on. I had noticed Ron's absence, and had began to hope he wouldn't come at all. My hopes crashed when a tall figure, slouching, stalked into the garden.

"Sorry I'm late, I-" He paused and glared at me, his face reddening. "You-" That was the cue for the twins, who were sitting at the end of the table. They shot out of their seats and caught Ron before he managed to get at me.

Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and me followed the twins, who were dragging Ron, to the living room.

"You slimy ferret! What are you doing here?" He sneered at me the second the door closed. I had given Eddie to the person sitting next to me, not looking at them twice.

"I invited him, Ron! He's Hermione's husband!" Ginny snapped. Ron fell silent, glaring at both me and Hermione.

"You...you...bitch." He snarled. "I loved you! And you ran away to marry that...ferret!" He barked. I slipped my hand into Hermione's and squeezed.

"You loved me?" Hermione's voice had a dangerous edge. "You raped me! And then made everyone believe that I was 'just looking for attention'! Do you realize what I went through? Do you?" She paused, glaring daggers at him. "For weeks I thought I was worth nothing and it was better for me to die. Look at these!" She snapped back and shook her wrists in front of him. There were the scars, visible white lines all the way from her wrist to her elbow. "I cut myself many nights and cried myself to sleep. I kept on telling myself I was nothing. That I was better off dead. That nobody would care if I died, that everyone hated me. I tried many times. And the last time I tried, I was sure I would succeed. Then he rescued me." She said softly. I put my hand to her waist and she sagged against me. There were tears on her cheeks.

"I...I never knew..."

"Never knew? You knew very well what you did to me. And you betrayed me. I'm sorry, Ron. I can forgive Ginny, Harry, and everyone else. But not you. You've hurt me too much." She said.

"Fine. But don't come crawling back to me when he breaks your heart." He sneered.

"We've been married for six years. We have two children. He won't break my heart before he dies." She whispered, but before she finished her sentence, he was gone. I hugged her tight and looked at everyone else in the room. Ginny, Harry and both twins were still staring at Hermione's scars, horrified. She kept her face buried in her hands."Signora Haxley..." I sang quietly. Her head snapped up in surprise, and she smiled weakly. "See?" I lifted her head from her chin and wiped away a tear with my thumb. "He's not worth crying for." I said, kissing her forehead gently and then letting her go. "Go and wash up, then come back, all right? You'll be fine. You have your friends, and me. He's just one person." I said reassuringly. She smiled at me and headed upstairs. Ginny mouthed a thank you to me and hurried after her. I looked warily at the three men before me.

"You really love her, don't you?" Harry asked. I nodded.

"It took me months to repair her from what he did completely. Maybe years. But she still sometimes has nightmares. She would wake up in the middle of the night, screaming. I would then hug her tight and calm her. She hasn't had nightmares for four years now. But I'm sure she'll have one tonight." I muttered. They stared at me with awe.

"You deserve her, no chance." One of the twins said. "Yeah, could you write a book? On how to comfort women and talk to them when they're sad?" The other added. I laughed. "You have to learn from experience." I said. "But usually it helps a lot if you just hug them tight and don't say a word, even if they say they want to be alone." I added.

"Mental note taken and thanked for." The twins said in unison. We walked back to the table, where everyone was staring at us, asking us where Hermione and Ginny and Ron were.

"Ron left. We sorted things out with him, though. Hermione and Ginny are coming soon." Harry said, and the table continued on eating the dessert, mango pudding and cream. I took Eddie back from who turned out to be Arthur and thanked him for watching him.

"No worries. He's an easy little chap, unlike those two." He said, pointing at the twins. They looked at him and replied with a laugh. "If we were easy, it would've been boring." One of them called, and the whole table laughed. I watched Angel laugh happily with her friends. Eddie was playing with his teddy happily. I was the only one in the table without a smile.

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What did you think ;P I'm thinking of adding a bit more Ron-related drama or would you like something else?


	4. Mango Pudding

**Hermione's POV**

I walked upstairs calmly, wiping my eyes, and stepped into the bathroom opposite Ginny's bedroom. I turned the tap on, the water rushing from it, and leaned against the counter. "That...idiot." I murmured as I splashed hot water on my face. It stung, but I didn't mind. "Hermione?" I heard Ginny ask warily. I didn't turn to face her.

"Yeah?"

"Are you all right?"

I paused to think. "I'm all right."

"You sure?"

"Yes. I've needed to talk to him, even if it was screaming at him about how bad he made me feel."

"I never knew you cut yourself."

"I tried my best to act normal." I said as I wiped my face with a towel.

I felt Ginny grab my hand and turn it around carefully. She traced the scars on my arm carefully.

"My brother is a prick, for making you do this to yourself." She said. "It's funny, how Ron and Draco have switched places." She added after moments of silence.

I laughed quietly. It was true. Before Draco had been a prick, now he was the most important man in my life. Before Ron had been my best friend and my first crush, now he was a prick. Ginny hugged me tight.

"I'm here, if you want to talk." She assured with a smile. I returned her smile, and together we walked out of the bathroom. Once outside, I took my seat beside Draco.

"Thank you." I whispered to him.

"Any time." He replied.

I chuckled, and took a spoonful of the pudding. It was delicious, of course. Molly Weasley had made, so of course it was delicious. Soon the discussion resumed, and it felt as though Ron had never been there.

"Hermione dear, are you sure you are all right?" Molly asked me with an expression of worry. "I'm fine, just a bit shocked, that's all. Shocked he'd say that. But I don't mind." I said. "He's had a lot of trouble lately. I just hope that he'll settle down soon." Molly said. I nodded, and turned as I felt Angelica tugging at my sleeve.

"Can you come with me to the loo?" She asked. I smiled, and stood up. "So, who're your friends?" I asked her in italian while we were walking back to the table.

"The boy is Leo, and the girl is Desiree. She understands some of my italian!" She exclaimed.

"Si, she speaks french, which is quite close to italian." I said, letting go of her hand as she ran to her friends. I walked over to where Draco was standing and poked his tickliest spot, right under his ribs. He leaped a few feet to the side with a yelp.

"That is cruel. I wasn't even ready!" He said. I smiled innocently. I turned to Ginny. "Do you have two brooms we could borrow for about three hours or so? We'll just go to the Forbidden Forest to a place we found." I asked Ginny. "Yeah, sure, you can take mine and Fred's, come with me and I'll give them to you."

About twenty minutes later, when we had bid everyone goodbye and promised to come back, I gripped Ed tightly and apparated to a place I hadn't been back to for seven years.

The view from the hill was just as I remembered, the mountains high and the forest evergreen. There was more plants now, after all, it was summer. "It's beautiful."

"Brings many memories, eh?" Draco asked. I nodded, and looked at the broom in my hands. I wasn't a very good flier; I was sure I would fall. Carefully I let Angelica sit in front of me on the broom. We had agreed that Draco took Eddie, as he was a better flier and could fly with one hand. I put my hands in front of Angelica and pushed off of the ground with my feet. The broom wavered a bit in the air, and as I leaned forward, it began moving towards Draco.

"Good..." He muttered. "Let's go." He then said. I grinned at him, though I was panicking on the inside. Slowly, the speed of the broom increased, and the landscape under me turned into a blur. Angelica was laughing happily; to her, this was the coolest thing _ever_. I had let her fly with Draco, and she had absolutely loved it; we were planning on buying her a kiddy broom for her birthday, which was on August 1st. In front of me, I saw Eddie drop his teddy. Draco made a quick swoop and let go with his other hand and caught the teddy.

"Once a seeker, always a seeker, hm?" I yelled to him.

It was a while until the field came to view, as well as the village. We landed at the edge of the field, and waited as we saw Treom and a few other centaurs gallop fro. "Who goes there?"

We raised our hands so they could see our marks.

"Hermione! Draco!" Treom cried happily, and walked forward. "And you've gotten children as well."

"Angelica." Ang said, walking forward with her hand reached out. Treom looked at her, surprised, and shook her hand gently. "Seems like you're not afraid of me, little one."

"Why would I? You're a person." Angelica said. Treom smiled.

"And this is Eduardo, but we call him Eddie."

"It is great to see you are all right and fine." Treom said as we walked towards the village. Ang was running in front of us, throwing cartwheels every now and then. Both our children had faint marks identical to ours; they looked more like birthmarks, but we could still see what it was.

After meeting Jerdu, Thage, Boddr, Dialma, Oric and everyone else and talking for an hour or so, we finally bid them goodbye. I felt good that we had kept our promise to come back. And the kids had seen the Forest and the village and Treom and all the others. I had trouble keeping Ang from falling asleep on the broom, and when we finally reached the hill the sun had set. We quickly apparated back to the Burrow, thanked Ginny for the brooms, and then apparated home. Eddie had fallen asleep long ago; Angel was half-asleep in my arms. I managed to get her to change into her nightgown and brush her teeth before kissing her goodnight. I found Draco lying in our bed, almost asleep. I quickly brushed my teeth and changed before crawling beside him. He snaked his arms around me and spooned me, sighing against my neck. "Do you know I love you?" He asked me. "I do." I replied. "You are amazing. You bore through meeting him. But-" He took a deep breath. "Do you think you'll have nightmares?"

"I wish not." I sighed, half burying my face into my pillow and falling asleep.


	5. Morning Swim

_Wishing for good dreams didn't come true_

_For I was living a dream myself_

_I understood the risks_

_But my heart yearned for it_

_I gave up my past for the future_

Like my little poem? :P

* * *

My wishes didn't come true. I woke up screaming. I stopped abruptly, gasping for air. I felt Draco's arms tighten around me, and him kissing my cheek gently. "It's just a dream. I'm here. It didn't happen." He said soothingly as I began sobbing against his chest. "I know it's just a dream. But this time... I saw someone kill you, Ang and Eddie...it was horrible. I-" I choked down a sob. "I tried to save you, but I was too late. And then Ron came, and-" I wailed quietly. "Hey, Mi. I'm here. I'm breathing, I'm alive. So are Ang and Eddie." Draco whispered. He nuzzled me closer. "It's just a nightmare." I hugged him tight and kissed him. "Thank you." I whispered. He wiped my tears away with his thumb. "Otherwise there'll be crust on your eyes tomorrow morning." He muttered. I fell asleep again, there, in his arms. And this time, there was no nightmare. I don't quite remember what my dream was. I just woke up in the morning, smiling widely. Draco had pulled my arm onto the blanket, and was tracing my scars carefully. When he saw I was awake, he kissed both my eyelids and nose.

"Good morning, know-it-all." He murmured and turned onto his stomach. I glanced at the clock; it was only five in the morning. We could lay in bed for two more hours. I began tracing the scars Draco had on his back. Some of the lines were as wide as two centimeters; they were white, and some would've said it was a tattoo if they saw it. He stretched slowly and turned onto his back, looking at me.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine now."

"Good."

I stood up to go and get a book or something, but suddenly I felt his arms around my waist and I fell back into bed, right in his lap. "Let's just stay here, for a while. It's so nice." He said. I sighed and looked up at him. He was staring into the distance; his eyes were concentrated on something. I began thinking of making a painting from this angle; it would be unique. "Whatcha thinking about now?" He asked me. His thumbs were drawing circles on my stomach.

"Maybe of taking a quick morning swim before going to work." I said, pushing myself up and getting my swimsuit. I went to the bathroom to wash, and came out wearing my swimsuit and holding two towels. "The kids will sleep for another hour or so." I stated, and he took the towel I was offering him. He was already wearing his swimming suit. I admired his muscular body for a while before shaking my head and heading downstairs and outside.

The sun had just risen an hour or so ago, and it was still low in the horizon. The sea was quite calm; there was hardly no wind. I walked to the end of the dock, dropped my towel to the ground, and dived head first into the water. I gasped as the cool water engulfed me, and suddenly another splash forced me to close my eyes. When I opened them, I saw Draco, his hair flat because of the water, gasping in the cool water.

"Well, now I'm awake." he stated, then dove underneath. I dove as well, and opened my eyes underwater to see where he was. He was diving to the bottom; it was about two meters deep where we were. I followed him down, and we floated for a moment at the bottom. Then I let out a burst of bubbles and kicked the bottom to get to the surface. I didn't, because Draco grabbed me by the ankle and yanked me back. Just when I was about to start panicking, he took out his wand and made a bubble of air appear around our upper bodies. I gasped for air for a few seconds, then looked at him. "Slytherin." I accused him. He smiled wickedly and then kissed me for a long time. "Am I forgiven?" he asked. I smacked him. "Yes, you are forgiven." The bubble faded, and we both swam to the surface. I climbed onto the dock and grabbed my towel. I wiped my face and dried my hair before walking back to the house.

Draco came a bit later, when I had already taken a shower and washed my hair, and was already wearing my work clothes; a white blouse and jeans. Our company was quite chill; we could basically show up in any clothes, just as long we did our work. I had started W.I.A.F - Wizarding Interior and Furniture together with two of my friends, Jayce and Marie. It was sort of a combination of interior designing, furniture design-and-making and an art gallery all at once. Later on we had hired a few art college graduates, Derek, Hannah and Stefano, who all helped out with the furniture designing while I and Jayce designed interior furnishing and such. The company store was a cosy, chaotic and colorful small building with two floors for the company. On the first floor were the little furniture we sold and the gallery, containing all of our artworks. They sold a few per week. There was also a spot where Hannah took orders and worked. She claimed she worked better in there than in a quiet office. On the second floor there were our offices. My office was right beside Jayce's, and was just like mine. Chaotic, papers, pens, erasers and such basically everywhere. Best designs framed on the wall. And then a few three sketchbooks piled on the desk.

I walked past Draco out of our room, and into Angel's room. She was waking; I woke her completely and told her to go and wash up while I woke Eddie. Luckily, he was already awake. I took him to the bathroom, and washed him up quickly before changing him into a white t-shirt and a denim romper. I combed his hair quickly, put his hat on and then handed him to Draco, who was heading downstairs. I helped Ang choose her clothes for the day, a cute short sleeved hoodie and shorts, and then took her downstairs. We had about half an hour for breakfast; I ate quickly and then brushed Ang's hair while she still ate, pulling it up in a pony tail and tying it with a bow. Draco had already left; he had to go to work for 8; my work began at 8:30, and I took the kids to the town kindergarten at 8:15. I helped Ang and Eddie put on their sandals, and checked everything was in order; the stove and lights were off, Ang and Eddie had their little backpacks, I had my purse and the key. Then I locked the door and we began walking towards town. I glanced at my watch, it was 7:59. We had enough time. Ang was talking about her latest dream, where she had been flying around with papa above the sea, and there had been dolphins. I laughed as she described Draco falling into the sea, and herself continuing flying on her own. Eddie was still quite sleepy, and was just waking as we arrived to the kindergarten.

"Buongiorno miss Bianca!" Ang called as I opened the gate into the garden. She let go of my hand and ran to her teacher, babbling all about what she had done during the weekend. I put Eddie to the ground and gave him a little push, and soon he ran towards where Ang was.

"Buongiorno." I said. "I'll be late for work, you'll be alright right?" I asked her. She nodded and took Eddie by the hand. I gave both kids a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before waving them goodbye.

I walked down the streets, greeting people with a happy good morning and such. It was a quiet morning; the town square wasn't buzzing with fruit sellers yet.

"Good morning." I greeted Hannah when I walked into our store. I put my purse down, sharpened my pencil and took an eraser before sitting down into my plushy armchair and pulling the desk part of it down. I had persuaded Stefano to build the chair so that there was a piece of wood on one of the armrests, so I could pull it down and draw properly without my back getting tired. A few of our customers had seen it and ordered, and the desk-armchair was one of the things that brought people to our shop.

"Good morning Hermione." Jayce said as she walked in. "We got a new order from some mister Weasley."

I froze in my movements and looked at her. "Who?"

"Ronald Weasley. He ordered us to furnish his living room." Jayce said.

"All right. I'll start right away; I was just working on another example layout anyway. Where's the maps and such?" I sighed. This was not going to go well.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's just..." I sighed. Jayce was a good friend of mine. I could tell her. "Can you close the door please? And promise not to tell anyone." I assured her.

"Spill it."

"He was my best friend in school."

"Was?"

"Until he raped me. And used his position in the Quidditch team to make me seem like a liar and an attention seeker." I said calmly. Jayce gasped and put her hand on mine.

"Really? Do you want me to say that we can't do the job?"

"Don't. I have to face him sometime. How about I go with Draco? And he'll make sure Ron won't do anything. We can say that he is there because we work together or something." I suggested. She nodded. "Of course. We don't want our best designer to get hurt." She smiled and walked out of the office. I sighed and took the papers.

"Living room...21 square meters...a simple rectangle...any style is fine." I read aloud. Hmph. He didn't even bother to cover up his intentions. I sighed and took the floor layout and soon I was engulfed in my job.


	6. The Manor

Hullo readers! I've gotten amazing reviews from you guys, keep on reading :) You guys make my day brighter when I see a new follower or a new review :)

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At lunch, I met up with Draco at a small restaurant in Rome. We watched a few tourists struggle with ordering before I walked over and assisted them. They thanked me, and I just said that I didn't want them ordering something they won't enjoy. This was Italy after all.

"So, how was work?" Draco asked me as he took a forkful of spaghetti.

"Horrid."

"Why?"

"Ron ordered his living room to be furnished." I said. Draco looked at me.

"You're not joking?"

"Nope."

"I'll come with you."

"That's what I was planning on."

"You could be a Slytherin, the way you plan." He smirked. I smirked back. "And you've picked up the signature Malfoy smirk."

"I am a Malfoy now, if you haven't noticed the wedding ring." I said, waving my hand in front of him. We both laughed. Suddenly Draco leaned over the table and kissed me gently.

"How could I forget that day?" He asked me softly.

"I know. It was magical, wasn't it?" I said. "You have to admit, the chocolate-lemon cake worked very well. And you had your suspicions." I huffed.

"I wanted a strawberry cake, but then again; I thought the cake was wonderful." He said. I laughed. We had debated for weeks over the cake, when finally I budged and chose the chocolate-lemon cake that was both our second choice.

"So, on the topic of cakes, you'll pick up the cake for Ang's birthday after work, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah, Rosaline said it was ready. But where'll I hide it?"

"The highest shelf on the fridge, behind some salad and other veggies. She'll never notice it."

We had been planning Angel's birthday for a week now; the kiddy broom was in the shed, well hidden, and the other presents were hidden as well. We had invited our closest friends for lunch, including Ginny, Harry and the whole Weasley family. Five was a big number after all. She'd be one year closer to receiving her Hogwarts letter. The kids, as well as us, had both Italian and British passports, and Professor McGonagall, the current Head of School, had sent me a letter ensuring that we were going to send the kids to Hogwarts.

"Hermione. I have something to ask you."

"Go ahead, spill it."

"Could we take the kids to the Manor today? I know your work practically ends after lunch, and I asked for a day off. Please, it would be so important to me." He begged, putting on his irresistible puppy-dog face.

"Your parents are fine with me?" I asked suspiciously.

"My father said it was just good that I was adapting into the new world and breaking the old barriers." He smiled.

"Then I'll come. You bore through meeting Weasleys, I'll bear through this."

"They aren't that horrid. At least what I got from the letters."

"Well, Ang and Eddie should see their only grandparents, don't you think?"

"Yeah."

We paid our bill and apparated back to Guiliano together. We then went to the kindergarten and fetched the kids; they had just eaten lunch, and Eddie handed me a drawing he had made. I was surprised by how good it was; I could actually tell it was a drawing of a cat. Considering that he could hardly hold a pencil right, it was good. Draco picked Ang up on his shoulders and I set Eddie on my hip, and we walked back home.

"Where are we going?" Ang, of course, asked.

"We are going to go and meet your grandparents." Draco said.

"Really?"

"Yes, grandma Narcissa and grandpa Lucius will be happy to meet you." I said.

"Yay!" Ang said, clapping her hands. She was always so optimistic. I was jealous of her.

I had her change her clothes, into a cute light blue dress with white leaves printed on it, and white sandals. I myself changed into a light green, casual, dress with golden flowers printed on it. Eddie wore his khaki pants, a tiny, white button up shirt. Draco wore exact same clothes as Eddie; only the cap was missing. Eddie loved hats; a baseball cap, a beanie, a sailor hat. Anything was fine.

"Let's go then." He said, slipping his hand into mine, and the next second I felt my stomach churn as we apparated.

The grande gates of the Manor opened slowly as we walked in. The sand on the path crunched under our feet, but it wasn't quiet. The birds were singing, the wind rustling the leaves. Draco squeezed my hand.

"It's different. It's more lively here now." He murmured as he knocked on the door. A pale, blonde haired woman opened the door, and engulfed Draco in a hug.

"You came back." She whispered. "You kept your promise." Slowly, she pulled away from Draco and looked at me.

"She's even prettier now." She commented to Draco. "Hello. I am so glad to meet you." She said to me. I smiled. "A pleasure to meet you too." "My name is Angelica." Angelica said, walking over. Narcissa hugged her carefully, and as she pulled away, Ang kissed her on the cheek.

"Buona sierra." She said. Narcissa smiled. "She looks a lot like you, Draco." She then looked at Eddie. "And this is Eduardo." I said. Eddie waved one hand at Narcissa. "He's a bit shy." I said. Narcissa nodded, and opened the door a bit more so we could come in. As we walked towards the living room, she listened to Ang's babbling intently, nodding at just the right places.

"Father." Draco stated as he stepped into the room.

"My son." He said. "I have wronged you." He pulled Draco into a quick hug. "I am proud that you kept your head and did what you wanted." He looked at me without a hint of a sneer or malice in his eyes. It was odd how stiff it was, but this was a much more different family than mine.

"And I am proud to say that you are my daughter-in-law. And my grandchildren." He said, looking at Ang and Eddie. "Angelica and Eduardo, am I correct?" I nodded.

"But we call them Angel and Eddie. Or Ang and Ed."

"We need to add you three to our family portrait room." Narcissa said. I looked at Draco, confused.

"Come. I'll show it to you." He said. I followed him through long hallways, until we came across a long, rectangular room, with no pieces of furniture in it. As Draco put the lights on, I saw that the walls were filled with portraits.

"Every person who holds the last name Malfoy has their portrait here. There are three blank spots beside my portrait. You wanna see?" He asked. I nodded, and so he walked down the room. I was surprised to find that none of the portraits made snide comments about my blood status. "Good job at bringing the Malfoy family to the new century, my son." One of them said. I smiled, and when we reached Draco's portrait, I saw that there was indeed three hooks beside his. His portrait was beautiful; it looked exactly like him, smiling at us. "Hello there, bro." it said to Draco, who smiled. "Hello." His portrait winked at me. "Hello there beautiful." Then he turned to talk to the portrait beside him. Draco blushed and took my hand, pulling me out of the room.

"I find it weird watching myself flirt with you." He murmured into my ear, then we stepped back into the living room. Ang was sitting on the sofa, explaining how she had just learned how to write, three years early. I noticed a look of pride in Lucius's eyes. Eddie on the other hand was sitting in Narcissa's lap, looking at the paintings and sucking his thumb.

"Ah, you came already." Lucius said. He coughed and took a sip of water. "Are you sending the children to Hogwarts? Or that italian school? Forgot the name..." He then asked.

"Hogwarts. The kids need to keep up the family tradition, right?" Draco said. "Though I hardly doubt Ed'll be in Slytherin. Maybe Ravenclaw..."

"Any house will be fine." I said diplomatically.

"If he ends up in Hufflepuff, I'll disown him." Draco joked. I looked at him seriously. "I was just joking!" He said. "I know." I said.

Narcissa sighed. "You two do really suit each other." She said happily. "What do you mean?" Ang asked. "That your mommy and daddy are very happy together." Narcissa replied to her. "Of course they are." Ang said seriously. "They're mommy and daddy."

We all laughed at Angel's comment.

"Your parents aren't as bad as I thought." I said. We were back at home, sitting before the fireplace. Ang was roasting marshmallows in the fire. A few times she managed to burn it - on purpose. Her melodically giggles made her seem like an angel child. An angel child who was no doubt going to grow up to be a pyromaniac.

"They've changed so much from before, you know." Draco replied. Eddie was drawing with crayons on the floor. I watched as the lines and colors combined and suddenly I realized he was drawing this scene. That light blue stick figure with yellow lines coming from the head was Ang. She was holding a brown stick with a white marshmallow in the fire. The couch beside her wasn't light green, but it was somewhat lime green and Draco and I were stick figures with right colored hair and clothes.

"Would you look at that." Draco said in awe. "He's inherited your artistic skills."

"What skills? I was bored during the long summers and taught myself to paint and draw. It was hard work, you know."

"Don't you act all modest. You're talented and you know it."

I huffed. Eddie had finished his drawing and showed it to Draco with a wide smile.

"Papa and Mama. And Ang!" He pointed to the stick figures and laughed. I laughed along and picked him up. "I am very proud of you, little Michelangelo."

"Who was Michelablo?" Eddie asked curiously. I smiled at him.

"A very good artist. Just like you!"

"Michelablo." He laughed and climbed higher in my lap. He yawned widely. "All right, bedtime. Both of you." Draco said. Ang pouted.

"Five more minutes?"

"No."

"Three more minutes?"

"Nope."

"One more minute?"

"I'm not bargaining with you, missy!" Draco said and scooped her up. "You need your good nights sleep so you can have fun with little Stefan and Philippa at Miss Bianca's tomorrow." Angel finally surrendered and so our little parade climbed up the stairs happily.


	7. We made a cookiecake

Hullo you people, you are the best! This is merely just practice for me, as I write some small stories and I am working on a book that I doubt anyone will ever see, but...I get good ideas from you guys and good critique! If you like, you can openly criticize my writings, anything will help me improve my writing :)

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**Draco's POV**

"When will Desiree and Leo and Fred and George and Auntie Molly and Ginny come?" Angel asked excitedly. She was practically jumping on the walls, and she had a good reason. For once. It was her birthday, and the guests should be arriving any minute. Hermione was somewhere putting up the last decorations with Eddie.

Hermione had dressed her into a white lace dress with blue ribbons and similar ribbons in her hair, which was braided into two braids. She looked adorable in that dress, but it was a risk; no doubt this dress would get dirty. I had made a deal with her; they would only be allowed to play inside and in the garden. No beach games yet.

"Hello hello!" The fireplace was lit green for a moment. Fred, his son Leo and his wife Jenny stepped out of the fireplace.

"Hello. You guys can walk around the house if you like, you're the first guests from England to come." I said. Ang had already vanished somewhere with Leo.

A moment later George and Angelina stepped out of the fireplace, their one-year-old daughter Rosalyn between them. I greeted them and the three of them vanished to examine the house.

Harry and Ginny came a moment later, both beaming. Ginny hurried off to find Hermione, James along her. Harry looked after her, his eyes filled with happiness.

"What's happened?" I asked him curiously.

He looked at me. "We're having another child." He said.

I clapped him on the back. "Congratulations are in place, I suppose."

"To you too. Ang's five, right?"

I nodded. Harry stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked around.

"How many people are coming?"

"I invited Rosa and a few others. So probably ten people will come from here and then Molly, Arthur and that's about it. Fred and George are already here..." I said.

"...happy birthdayy too youu!" We ended our off-tone, many voiced birthday song and Angelica blew the five candles atop her cake, her eyes gleaming with excitement. It was a foot tall creamy cloud of candy, cake, meringue and all that sugary stuff. And the frosting was pink. Of course it was.

I had to fly after Ang once the last guests had gone; she was flying above the sea, laughing and making me proud. Prouder than ever. I soon caught her up and it took me approximately half an hour to finally persuade her to come back to mainland. My happiness just increased when I saw her dive after a rock she'd dropped, and catch it perfectly. She'd be an excellent seeker. Of course her broom didn't rise above seven feet, but I had already promised her to buy her a broom the second she was big enough. Which would take another four years or so.

"Hello." I heard as I crept into our bedroom. I had thought Hermione was asleep, but instead she was lying on our bed, looking at me with a wide smile. I closed the door quietly behind me and went over to the bed.

"What's in your mind?" I asked her. She smiled. "You." She replied with a smile. I kissed her neck gently. Her scars from the Beast.

"Beastslayer." I sighed. She looked at me, her eyes filled with happiness.

"Ferret." She replied gently and kissed him. Draco smirked against her lips and climbed atop her as she laid backwards down onto the bed. With each movement their kisses and caresses began more passionate, their breathing quicker and the darkness of the room became less dark.

I watched as Hermione checked her papers once again, very aware of Weasel's eyes looking at her with too much emotion for my liking. I would've bashed his face to the wall for all the things he'd done to Hermione if the very girl in question hadn't made me promise I wouldn't do so.

We were in his small apartment at the outskirts of London, a typical guy's apartment. Dirty laundry floating around, not very neat and very little thought put to the furniture. This was the fourth and last time we'd come here. The room had been painted light green, the furniture bought and put into place, the last touches put to the tables and such. Now she was just checking that everything was in place.

"Draco, would you mind getting that plant from upstairs? I forgot all about that. It's supposed to go there." Hermione said. She, as well as I, had come to believe that Weasley wasn't really up to anything; just really in need of a makeover for this dump. I nodded and hurried upstairs. Of course I had forgotten where I'd taken that plant a week ago. I rummaged through the few other rooms and finally found it in the bathroom. I picked the plant up and walked casually downstairs to find Weasley, kissing Hermione, who was trying to squirm away from him all she could.

Weasel was pressing her against the wall roughly, holding her by the wrists with one hand and holding two wands with the other. I looked quickly at Hermione and my heart fell. Her eyes were filled with panic and fear. I couldn't let him do this to her. My brain shot into action, but just then Weasel lifted his wand and muttered: "Accio." My wand was in his hand a few moments later.

"How about you leave us alone? Dirty little ferret." He snarled. I glanced at Hermione. There were lines of tears on her cheeks. I felt my face flush.

"How dare you even touch her!" I barked, then quickly shot towards him. Before I knew it I had my knife in my hand and I was dodging the spells Weasley was casting, with ease. I ducked, jumped, rolled, and finally managed to get close enough to actually fight. Soon the fight was over. I was pushing Weasel against the wall, my knife at his throat and all three wands in my free hand.

"Where did that knife come from?" He asked fearsomely.

"Don't you ever, _ever_, lay a finger on her. You can't even submit to what you've done to her. It's just as bad as if you'd used an Unforgivable." I snarled. His face hardened.

"Who're you to talk? You've used one. Death eater." He spat, though I saw his eyes were filled with fear. Anger flamed inside me. That was the one thing I did not accept.

"I'm just as much of a death eater as you are." I snarled. His breath was ragged; no doubt I was maybe pressing just a bit too hard onto his neck. I saw a single drop of blood dribble down his neck.

Quickly as I could, I let go of Weasel, took Hermione by the arm and dropped the man's wand onto the floor before apparating out of the apartment.

We were in our bedroom. Everything was alright. The moment our feet had touched the firm floor of our room, Hermione had pulled out of my gentle grasp and walked to the wall, where she slumped to the ground, curled into a ball and began crying. I watched her shoulders shake and her whole body tremble for a moment before I walked over and picked her up into my arms and carried her to our bed. I took off her jacket and shoes and tucked her in just as I did with Eddie and Angel. I kissed her forehead gently and sat there, near her, for almost an eternity until finally her sobs subsided and she was asleep. Even after that I sat there, watching warily as Hermione's expression changed slowly into a distorted one, and soon she was mumbling and tossing around in her sleep. It must've been two hours before she woke with a scream and looked around frantically, her breath ragged and fast. There was cold sweat on her forehead.

When she saw me, she just simply looked at me for a moment. Then she let out a cry and hugged me tight, sobbing into my shoulder. I smiled into her hair and pulled her into my lap completely, hugging her in return.

"It's okay. He's not here. He'll never be here if you don't want him to. I'm here, and everyone else who loves you is here." I whispered into her ear. "Nobody hates you." I added. I kissed her forehead and began rocking her in my lap. She hadn't been this bad for years. After a few minutes she had stopped crying, but her head was still buried in my chest. "Why can't he just leave me alone?" She mumbled.

"I don't know." I said. "But I won't hold myself back if he ever does that again. I swear, I would've loved to bash his face onto the wall and make him pay for all what he did to you." I continued. She looked up, slowly. And then she smiled.

"Thank you." She said. Her lips touched mine, carefully, and I pulled her closer and kissed her. I was glad that she was alright.

We sat there for probably an hour, just hugging each other and whispering comforting things to each other. Finally I had to go and get the kids. I told her to rest and not stress herself, and so I left. I saw the storm clouds gathering in the horizon; the first storm of the autumn was at hand.

"Mama's not feeling that well." I explained to Ang and Ed as we walked towards our house. The clouds were closer now; it would rain quite soon, hopefully after we reached Villa Lucia. I was holding Ed and Angelica was walking beside me.

"Why? Is she sick?" Ang asked innocently. I sighed. I wished it was as simple as some sickness. But it wasn't.

"She's stressed, that's all." I replied. "How about we surprise her? Let's make her cookies and cocoa, how about that?" Angelica laughed in delight and Eddie clapped his hands. "Cookies!" They both yelled.

Ed somehow managed to cook the batter while it was waiting in a bowl. I don't even know how it happened. He just touched the bowl and then it turned boiling hot. I burnt my hand onto it when I was about to make the cookies. And when it had finally cooled down, we found that we had one humongous cookie-cake. We cut it into thin slices and they didn't taste bad, so no harm done.

"Hermione dear..." I said quietly when I stepped into our bedroom. Angelica and Eddie rushed over to the bed and climbed onto it. Hermione was just waking. "We made you a cookiecake and cocoa!" Eddie said and nuzzled close to her. Hermione smiled weakly and looked at me.

"What's a cookiecake?" She questioned.

"Taste and you'll see." I said, bringing her the tray with four cups of cocoa with cream and the large plate of cookie slices. She took one of them and took a bite.

"A cookie." She stated.

"Eddie accidentally cooked the batter when it was still in the bowl. But it tastes fine, right?" I asked. She nodded.

"Are you still feeling ill?" Angelica asked, a worried look on her face.

Hermione smiled and hugged us all closer, carefully so the cocoa wouldn't tip.

"Not anymore. I love you." She said, then took another cookie. "These are extremely good! Eddie, our little masterchef." I tickled Eddie, who laughed. I laughed as well and then took a sip of my cocoa. I burnt my tongue.


	8. False, I'll tell you the truth

Hullo hullo lovely people

i love you guys, just wanted you to know that :)

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A week later I found out something that would destroy our idea of living safely away from the press and such in Italy. The Daily Prophet's front page.

_The Malfoy Heir - and a simple muggleborn witch? Can this be true? Or has the poor man been bewitched by this cruel woman? Read Rita Skeeter's insider's view and opinions, only from the Daily Prophet!_

And there was a picture of them, in a small cafe in London only two days ago.

Eddie and Angelica were at Rosa's for the day. Hermione and I had a single free day, and we had decided to have a relax and chill day with no work and no responsibilities.

I huffed angrily and flipped through the pages.

_Our reporters found Miss Granger and mister Malfoy two days ago, apparently on a secret date. _I glared at the words. She hadn't been Miss Granger for six years. _Both these young people were the ones whom were searched for seven years ago, when the two of them disappeared simultaneously from Hogwarts and were not seen. We did have steady reports that they were alive, yes, but nobody had seen them in England for such a long time. Readers, I believe this was Granger's plan to seduce Draco Malfoy, the hottest guy chosen by Witch Weekly and so on. She kidnapped the poor man and fed him love potions, as I believe. _I felt like I could rip the paper into tiny bits and throw it into the fireplace, but forced myself to read the paper, my anger rising with each word. _Poor young Malfoy was seen with a devastated and desperate expression, and I am sure that soon we'll put an end to this horrible crime. Miss Granger has earlier experience from this, from seven years ago, when she, in an attempt to ruin the relationship between her best friend and his girlfriend, seduced him and blamed him of abusing her in the worst kind of way - with no proof._

I couldn't take it anymore. I quickly jotted down a note for Hermione, took a copy of the paper and then apparated, clutching the paper in my hands.

"I need to see miss Skeeter, now." I said.

"She's not available, sir...?"

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

The secretary looked up from her papers. "She's not available."

I huffed and barged in.

There she was. Rita Skeeter.

"Mister Malfoy! What brings you here?" She said, surprised.

"What is this rubbish?" I growled, throwing the paper onto her table. She took her time surveying the paper. "Ah, you're here about the thing about miss Granger."

"She's not miss Granger any longer. Hasn't been for six years." I snarled, leaning against the table.

"Then what is she?"

I waved my hand in front of her. She looked at me, then my hand. The ring. "She's a Malfoy?"

"And she did not, never did, use a love potion on me, you selfless bastard. Do you realize what you did for me and her?" I asked.

"I pulled my obvious conclusions from what I saw." She said.

"I know you're an animagus." I then said calmly. She gulped. "What am I supposed to do? I can't help it anymore?"

"Yes, you can. By publishing our whole story. And I'll inspect the text. Readers would love to hear our little love story. You'll make money and I can clean my reputation that you destroyed."

I saw curiosity flash in her eyes. "All right. Sit down, I'm quite sure this'll be a long story. How did it begin?"

"I'll start with the backgrounds to our escapes. Both of us."

"Go on."

"I had been planning escape for months, because of the pressure put onto me by Voldemort and his followers. I was supposed to kill Dumbledore, but found I was unable to do so. I ran away using a secret passage in the Slytherin commons, and into the Forest." I paused. "Hermione was raped by Ronald Weasley." Rita looked up, shocked. "But-"

"He made everyone believe she was just lying and trying to destroy his reputation, which was done easily using his sudden popularity and position on the Quidditch team. Hermione suffered of suicidal thoughts and tried cutting herself. Many times. Finally, on the same night I was running away, she ran to the forest and found a pond. I found her there, almost in the pond, cuts on both her wrists. I saved her, though at the time we were still pretty much enemies. It was against my pride to let someone die when I could help."

An hour later I took the paper and read through it. No mocking, no embarrassing things or anything that someone could misunderstand. I had mentioned that we had two children, but hadn't specified the names or their ages - for their own protection. I also hadn't told where we lived; they'd figure it out themselves if they really needed to.

I left for home, the first copy of tomorrow's Prophet in my hand.

"Hermione?" I was in our kitchen. She wasn't there, but neither was the paper. I froze and hurried off.

She was in the living room, the paper in her hand, tears falling from her cheeks. I walked over and took the paper from her hand gently, and replaced it by the new one.

"I can't believ-" She began. I kissed her and sat down beside her. "Read this..." I flipped the newspaper in her lap open to the right page. "...before you start."

I watched as her eyes scanned the page, faster than I thought. "Oh, Draco..." She whimpered. "You did this?"

I nodded, a wide smile on my face. She hugged me. "Thank you! I-I can't explain how grate-"

"You don't need to. I did this just as much as for you as for myself. I know how great it is."

"You protect me too much sometimes. I'm sacred that one day you'll just get fed up with it and walk out."

I stiffened and just pulled her closer to me. "I would never, ever, do that. That would make all my protecting worthless, sí?"

"You know, this is so much like a romantic movie. I don't really know how to explain, it just is."

I thought for a moment. "You're right."

That silence lasted for probably over half an hour. Neither of us said anything; we didn't need to. We gave each other our own space.

"Draco?"

"Hm?"

"I-I don't think I'll have any nightmares of Ron anymore."

"Why'd you think that?"

"It's just...I don't shudder at the mention of his name. I think...in some subconscious way, I've forgiven him."

I looked at her, surprised. "Forgiven? Him?"

"Yeah. It happened. I don't want to be afraid of him for the rest of my life."

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mhm it sounds like a good ending...but IT WONT! because there is a whole life ahead of them :) I gots the other sequel for running away, a prequel to this, coming up soon - keep on reviewing and such

ILYSM and DFTBA


	9. A daughter like her father

Here you go, you patient lovely readers

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_September 1st, 2013 - 10:46 AM - _**_Hermione's POV_**

"We go through the wall? But why?" I smiled at Eddie, who was holding my hand tight. He was looking at the wall with a questioning look. We were at King's Cross, and in exactly thirty-three minutes my dear angel would be leaving for her first year at Hogwarts. Angelica was walking beside Draco, her blonde hair combed back and her new deep turquoise wool sweater on her. Rosa had knitted it for her as a gift of starting her school. She was radiating excitement. Although most of her italian friends would be going to the Italian equivalent of Hogwarts, she wasn't afraid of starting the year.

"So that we can get to the other side, silly." I said, tapping Ed's nose. He laughed and then we went through.

The steaming red train was right in front of me, in the exact way it had for me the last time I'd seen it - fifteen years ago. Eddie's grip tightened just the tiniest bit on my hand as we walked through the crowds towards the end, where there wasn't as much people. "When will I get to go?" I glanced at Eddie, who was looking at me with his brown eyes.

"If you're two and a half years younger than your sister, then you can count it yourself." I replied.

"Two years! I can't wait that long!" Eddie exclaimed. I smiled. He wasn't stupid. And he shouldn't be. He was in second grade of the little school in Guiliano. The school only had five grades, where the kids were taught similar things as in a muggle school; writing, reading, maths, some easy biology and such. And then a lot of sports.

Angelica had ran forward, towards a group of other first years. She didn't know them, but who cared. Well, at least that seemed her policy.

For the past year I had been listening to her babbling about how excited she was to meet new people, the teachers, to go to England, to go to Hogwarts, to see the places mama and papa had seen. And above all, she couldn't wait for second year, when she'd try out for, hopefully, the Slytherin Quidditch team. In some distorted way, I was glad that she'd be out of the house. So she could experience those things.

And yet I felt like my heart was being ripped out - for the good. "Mama, I met Peter and Jessica and Emily and many other people. We'll be sitting together in the train, which leaves in..." She took out her watch, a necklace that I'd given her on her eleventh birthday. "It leaves in...five minutes." She sighed. "I guess this is good bye." I said as I hugged her tight. My dear little girl. "You owl us if you need anything, right? Because that's what we bought you an owl for." Eddie walked forward and gave her a hug. "Divertimento e scrivener per me, Ang." He said. A few people around us looked at us oddly, but said nothing. Angelica laughed. "Naturalmente farò, piccolo." She said gently. Draco scooped her up into a hug and sighed.

"Whatever house you end up in, it'll be the best for you."

I was surprised. Ever since Angelica had turned eleven and had received her Hogwarts letter, he had been ranting about her ending up in Slytherin. Angelica gave me one last hug.

"Have fun." I whispered and slipped a letter into her pocket. "This will come in handy for sure. But don't go out after curfew, promise. Only during the day. And don't forget to go visit Hagrid. You'll know him when you meet him. Just say that I'm your mother and he'll be your friend. He's a friendly old oaf." I said to her, hugged her again.

"I will, mama." Angelica said. And then she climbed the stairs into the train. I felt Draco wrap his arm onto my waist and pull me closer. We watched as the train started moving, and soon Angelica popped her head out of one of the windows and waved. We all waved back for as long as we could, until the train was no longer but as small dot in the horizon. I wiped a tear from my eye and took Eddie's hand. And then we apparated home.

_2nd of September, 2013_

_Dear mama and papa and Eduardo, this place is amazing. I was sorted into Slytherin, the common room is awesome and so are my dorms. I already have many friends from all the houses - Peter and Emily were sorted into Gryffindor, Jessica is with me in Slytherin, Reg and Ben, who're twins, are in Hufflepuff and then I met this girl, Eleanor, who was sorted into Ravenclaw. Classes start tomorrow, I hope they're fun. _

_I met Hagrid, and when I told him who my mother was, he really turned out into a very nice chap. He invited me for tea today, and I went with Peter and Jessica. He is very much fun._

_I found a mention of Papa in the Slytherin Common room, a certificate and a badge for him being the best Seeker for Slytherin in a century. I'm sorry, but I am quite sure I will take your place Papa. At least I hope I will. _

_I need to go to dinner now, love you all_

_Angelica Isabel Malfoy_

I put the letter down to the table and looked at Draco. His face was lighted with unmeasurable joy.

"My daughter is a Slytherin." He stated, then hugged me tight. "Big sis is a Slytherin!" Eddie laughed and jumped atop of us, causing me to lose my breath for a moment. I looked at my dear son. "Which house do you think you'll be in?" I asked him. Eddie thought for a moment.

"Ravenclaw."

"Why Ravenclaw?" Draco asked.

"Because they're smart. And I like blue." Eddie said, then ran off to his room. I found him in front of his easel, his little brow furrowed in concentration as he painted the Hogwarts Express, an hour later. Draco had gone outside to check on the garden and plant a few moonlilies after we quickly wrote up a reply to Angel's letter.

Eddie didn't notice me before I was standing right behind him, and he jumped slightly. I leaned over his shoulder and looked at the painting. It was very good, and I found it quite amusing that Eddie, who was almost three years younger than Ang, could draw far better than her. His walls were filled with drawings of cats, dogs, flowers, the dock, all the drawings he'd drawn over the years. Not as single drawing had gone to thrash, though the best and sweetest were hung on our Hall of Memories. After his seventh birthday, when I had given him a sketchbook and a packet of pencils, he had filled up three large sketchbooks, from which we had ripped all the pages when they were done and hung them on the walls, resulting with a very queer and artistically messy bedroom.

"How's my little Michelangelo?" I asked him.

"I'm fine, thank you." He said, then turned to his painting. "I don't know how to make the smoke. Can you tell me how?"

I chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Art has no boundaries, no rules of how smoke is supposed to look. Improvise." I replied. He groaned. "This is no fair."

"It is very fair. You'll feel quite good when you figure it out on your own." I laughed, then glanced at the clock. "Well, sir, it seems that it has come time for you to climb into your lair and get yourself a good nights' sleep."

"Just a minute." Eddie said, turning to his painting. He quickly painted three strokes of white paint above the train, then spread it around with his thumb and patted it. The result was quite realistic smoke, with Eddie's own little touch.

. . .

"Mama?"

"Hm?" I looked at Eddie, who was lying in his bed.

"Do you think I'll go into Slytherin, like Angelica?"

I sighed. "You'll be in the house that best suits you, whatever that is." I replied, kissed his forehead and bid him goodnight.

I walked through Angelica's empty bedroom. The walls were simple white, and her broomstick was hanging on the wall, alongside a few photos of her flying, the largest of her and Draco above the sea, with the sun setting at the horizon. I sighed and sat onto her bed, looking at the mural I'd painted together with her a couple years before. It was a deep turquoise dragon, it's scales shimmering in all possible colors from the spell I'd cast at it. It wagged it's tail swiftly and yawned, a small puff of smoke emerging from it's nostrils as it nuzzled itself into sleep. It was so odd, her desk being so clean and neat, and the floor empty of her sports gear.

"Whatcha thinking about?"

I turned to find Draco, standing beside me. He sat down onto the bed and rested his forehead on mine.

"Just how time passes, that's all. I mean, just a moment ago Ang was taking her first steps right there. And I still remember her first flight like it was yesterday." I sighed.

"She's a big girl now." Draco chuckled. "We can get another one, if you like. But they all grow up, you can't prevent that."

I sighed. "Maybe..." He kissed me on the lips and took my hand into his. "I knew you'd say that. But we don't need to hurry, we've got all the time we want now. No war, no worries. For now." He winked and pulled me up. "Seriously, don't worry."

I issued a laugh. "How could you tell I was still worried?"

"I've spent fifteen years with you. I'm ought to know the tiniest change in your mood before you do." He smiled.

Fifteen years of wonder and ponder, cry and joy, of love and hate. I smiled at Draco, who returned it and pulled me near. I knew it would be alright. Angelica was having a great time, Eddie was growing up to be a wonderful young boy, and I had no reason to hide any longer.

Everything was alright.

* * *

I could've ended this with 'all was well', you know. But I decided to end it differently than our Queen, because this story is so much different and is not at all as good as the real thing. :) THANKS SO MUCH FOR BEARING THROUGH WITH ME!


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